"Why Letterpress Endures," with master printer Blake Riley
"Why Letterpress Endures," with master printer Blake Riley
This week on "The Secrets of Mastery," the creative director of San Francisco's Arion Press discusses his craft's appeal through the centuries, and his own surprisingly egalitarian views on mastery.
Dear Friends-
Tucked into a corner of an old army base in San Francisco, and largely unknown, even to many locals, one of the world’s last remaining handmade book-printing shops is still regularly turning out rare literary works of art. This letterpress shop, called Arion Press, also boasts a library of old lead type that may be the largest in the world, even more extensive than the Smithsonian’s collection.
Arion’s myriad printing presses and typesetting machinery, which still print books on lead type, often casting one letter at a time, attracted the attention of the late Anthony Bourdain for an episode of “Raw Craft”:
This week on “The Secrets of Mastery,” we chat with Arion’s lead printer and creative director, Blake Riley. In today’s episode, the first part of our ongoing conversation with Riley, he discusses some of the long history and persistent myths around his craft; what keeps a centuries-old, labor-intensive industry going in a high-tech world; what ‘mastery’ means to him (it may surprise you!)—and why he never gets bored.
I hope you’ll enjoy listening to "Why Letterpress Endures," with master printer Blake Riley.
For just $6/month or $60/year, our paid subscribers here on Substack get access to the entire “Secrets of Mastery” series, including previous episodes, along with other premium content we have in the works.
For more about the craft, process, and preservation of traditional letterpress printing, may we suggest these richly illustrated pieces from our archives:
”Printing with Love,” by Douglas Cruickshank, and “The Chapel: Inside Ireland’s National Print Museum,” photographed by Ruth Carden and written by Larry Gallagher.
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Sincerely,
Todd Oppenheimer
Publisher & Editor-in-Chief, Craftsmanship Magazine
“The Secrets of Mastery” is a series of brief, intimate conversations with artisans, innovators, and other pioneers about what it takes to master their craft, and why handmade matters.
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